Reviewing the journey of the Vietnam team in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers

The player who played the most minutes was Quang Hai with 1,523 minutes in 17 matches, scored the most goals was Tien Linh with 8 goals and the player who received the most cards was center back Duy Manh with 4 yellows and 1 red. In the 3rd qualifying round, participating for the first time, the Vietnam team played 10 matches (won 1, drew 1 and lost 8), scored 8 goals, conceded 19 goals, the player who scored the most goals was Tien Linh with 3 goals...

The ball dispute between players of the Vietnam Team (red shirts) and the Thailand Team in the first leg of the semi-final. Photo: VNN

Those are mechanical, dry statistics but carry a lot of meaning from precious numbers that the Vietnam National Team cannot easily achieve, especially when competing with top opponents in the continent without having to... pay an entrance fee (due to having to spend money to invite strong teams to play friendly matches or train... without being sure of meeting the requirements or getting any noteworthy results?).

It is worth noting that starting from the efforts to improve, from the professional capacity of teachers and students to go through the rounds one by one, reaching the 3rd Qualifying Round - the main gate and the round to officially get a ticket to the World Cup. The best achievement up to this point ofVietnam National TeamIt is certainly a great encouragement, especially when Vietnamese football surpasses its neighbor Thailand to reach the continent.

After two failures in the 3rd Qualifying Round in the 2002 and 2018 World Cups, Thailand let Vietnam surpass them in the 3rd Qualifying Round of the 2002 World Cup and won 4 points (equaling the Thais in the 2002 World Cup and doubling their points in the 2018 World Cup, not to mention Vietnam was much better when they won 1 match in the 3rd Qualifying Round).

The 3-1 victory over China brought the Vietnamese team its first point in the third qualifying round of the World Cup and signaled a cool breeze of change. Photo courtesy: Lieu Viet Linh

Vietnam National Team has gradually grown stronger thanks to its defensive-counterattacking tactics and flexibility at all times thanks to the guidance of "wizard" Park Hang-seo. Thanks to good defense, Vietnam National Team won 6 draws in the entire qualifying campaign, 2 goalless draws against Thailand in the second qualifying round for example and most notably the 1-1 draw against host Japan in the third qualifying round, or only narrowly lost to high-class teams at home such as Japan, Australia or Oman (all with the same minimum score of 0-1).

Thanks to proactive defense and quick transitions, the Vietnamese team has actively counter-attacked and won against big opponents like UAE (first leg of Qualifier 2), convincingly won against China (3-1 in the second leg of Qualifier 3), and scored a goal ahead of high-class opponents like UAE, Oman or Japan in Qualifier 3...

Members of the Vietnamese team practice tactics. Photo: VFF

Although being underdogs and underestimated, the Vietnamese team is never afraid of big opponents, on the contrary, they are always ready to launch sharp counter-attacks with the sharpness of Quang Hai, Hoang Duc, and the efficiency and power of Tien Linh. Even in the heaviest defeat in the qualifying round (0-4 away to the Australian team), the proactive attack of the Vietnamese team always makes the opponent wary, there is absolutely no collapse or breakdown.

The whole campaignWorld Cup 2022 third qualifying round, although only ranked at the bottom of Group B, the mark that Quang Hai and Hoang Duc left behind showed that these are excellent factors, a bright future for Vietnamese football. When Hung Dung returned, everything became clearer thanks to the team's solidified midfield, creating peace of mind for the defensive line including veterans like Nguyen Manh, Ngoc Hai, young factors like Thanh Chung, Viet Anh or Thanh Binh, completely new factors like Tuan Hai, Van Xuan... The appearance of Tuan Hai created more diversity and power in the attack alongside Tien Linh. The trust that Mr. Park Hang-seo had in Thanh Binh after the stumble in the first leg against the Chinese team was rewarded with a goal more precious than gold in the second leg draw with the Japanese team in the 3rd qualifying round.

The joy of the Vietnamese team when scoring a goal against the Chinese team. Photo: Hai Hoang

It should be remembered that throughout this entire campaign, injuries, penalty cards and the Covid-19 pandemic have caused the Vietnam National Team to continuously encounter difficulties, especially in the last two matches of the 3rd Qualifying Round. In that difficult context, the Vietnam National Team still firmly overcame with iron will and determination, turning each defeat, each goal conceded, each mistake into a valuable lesson to be learned in each step of improvement.

The positive changes of the Vietnam National Team since 2022, especially the resounding 3-1 victory over the Chinese National Team and the 1-1 draw with the Japanese National Team, have truly concluded beautifully and completely the 2022 World Cup Qualifying campaign to be ready to move towards new tasks in the immediate and long term with a more steadfast mindset, more positive lessons and greater confidence in victory than ever before...